Professor Barragan interviewed in "Nyhetsmorgon" about the parasite Toxoplasma gondii

A new French study has shown that chimpanzees infected with Toxoplasma are attracted by the urine of their natural predators, leopards, but not by urine from other large felines. The study suggests that parasite manipulation by Toxoplasma gondii is specific to each host. It fuels an ongoing debate on the origin of behavioral modifications observed in humans infected with Toxoplasma and associations to major diseases like schizophrenia and depression: they probably go back to a time when our ancestors were still preyed upon by large felines.